Reg Hardware Mobile Week
Archos has jumped on the tech for tots bandwagon by announcing a 7in Android tablet called the Child Pad.
The lightweight device features a 1GHz processor and 1GB of Ram powering Google's latest OS, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
Archos Child Pad
ICS is spruced up with a easy-to-use and highly …

Re: Will be a big hit

"Archos - I think you need to do a little more work on understanding your audience"

I think maybe they actually do. Kids like to copy their parents, and having a tablet that looks identical, on screen, is exactly what they want. If you want something that looks childish and bright, buy a Vtech thing and see how long they use it before asking to use your phone/tablet, becuase that' much better.

To me, this looks perfect, looks and acts exactly like an adult tablet and will stop the kids asking "can i play..." on my phone.

Personally I'd rather pay £99 for this than half that for a crappy bit of plastic with a cheap dot-matirx lcd display.

Re: Will be a big hit

I think they DO understand the audience. I disdain this consumer grooming (because that's what it is, essentially, i.e. IF they like this one, and grow out of it, which brand will you, the parent, buy to replace it?). That said, I've been looking for a pad for my kids (4.5 and 2.5 yrs old), as they use and abuse my android phone and I would like them to have more fun drawing pictures, etc, than they do now, on a 3.5 inch screen. Alternative is a session in front of a pc, with a mouse, but a pad (x 2, alas), has an extra benefit of portability, during those longer than a blink of an eye trips.

The price seems ok-ish, although I'm sure due increase will be seen on this side of the pond, question is, did they make it robust? Not that I would expect it to withstand repeated jumping on top of it, but an occasional fall from a table, yes.

Child Psychology

Re: Will be a big hit

Sorry - didn't make it clear. A totally Fisher Price tablet would be fine. A more grown-up looking tablet would also be fine. This thing looks like a half-hearted compromise by a designer who's not sure of its target audience.

Re: Will be a big hit

I for one will be buying one for my kids... after all the electronic toys i've brought them my 2 & 4 year olds still love the ipad the most, the 2 year old playing games by himself! the 4 year old surfing the web and playing games...

They missed the chance......

In my limited experience*,

kids don't really need a dumbed down interface. My 5 year old can find and double-click the Firefox icon on my Vista desktop, without it needing to be anymore Fisher-Price than it already is. Not to mention, piss about with the widgets.

I think I'd rather he learnt on a "proper computer" now, lest he find them all terribly confusing when he grows up**.

Re: It looks like the Nokia Lumia.

My kids are getting...

...a tablet without a battery. Something they can put down without regret and get out in the fresh air and sunshine. They should get "social" with kids in real life rather than remotely. The battery will be an 18th birthday present. The wife says it should be on their 25th.